Prince Sammy blinked at the message in his hand as he read it again. His smirk died. "Oh."

Sammy understood, even if the Captain didn't. Ossomer had been croaked. The new Naughtymancy of the Arkentools had been applied to the Crown Prince of Jetstone, along with all that that implied.

His hand dropped to his side. He stared at the green moss on a tree root by his feet, working it out in his mind. Stringy blond hair fell over his eyes.

Jetstone was sending messages, so the capital had not yet fallen under attack. Maybe it wouldn't, now that Gobwin Knob knew about his column. The message warned of heavy flyers and a Foolamancer. He'd never faced one, and never wanted to.

"Restack the entire column," he told the Captain, without looking up. "Warlords with archery, every archer stack with a Warlord or a multilevel scout." He crumpled the message and dropped it on the road. "Watch the skies."

"Yes, Highness!"

The message also warned that Gobwin Knob was geared for some kind of chorus-rock dance fighting. That didn't worry Sammy. Rock was in his blood. Alone, he could rock out harder than any ensemble, and his men could at least headbang. If they landed to dance, he would show them the great truth of the Titans by which he lived: there's only one way to rock.

No, despite Gobwin Knob's habit of targeting Royalty, the danger was not that they'd attack Haggar's column. It was that they wouldn't attack the city.

Prince Sammy and his father didn't agree on much. But when the King had come up with this plan, he gained more respect for old Dickie than he'd had in hundreds of turns.

Back when Ossomer had Sansabelt under siege, Sammy had stood with his old man on the palace's sandstone balcony, overlooking the shore and grand lighthouse. Sammy had come home to plan the counterattack, but the King told him, "No. We will ally with Jetstone. We will raise a great infantry force. We will wait until Jetstone needs help most, then send everything we can spare into this fight."

He couldn't believe the old goat was serious. "You make me crazy, you know that? We should be attacking Jetstone right now!"

But the King raised his hand. "Wouldn't it be a pity," he said quietly, "if we had a large force near Jetstone when their capital was attacked, but not quite near enough to help?"

Oh.

Yeah.

Leave Gobwin Knob and Jetstone to beat the crap out of each other. Whichever side won, it would be too weak to defend itself. Haggar breaks alliance, steps in; winner takes it all.

Until this moment, Sammy could see no flaw in that plan. He and King Dickie paid appropriate lip service whenever Jetstone went on about the Titanic mandate. Jetstone saw this as a holy war, and Haggar saw that only as a way to manipulate Slately.

Except...now that witch with the Arkenpliers had just claimed another Royal trophy. Just like that. Smug, square Ossomer had fallen without ceremony.

Sammy unslung his axe from his back and examined the blade. He'd been planning to take Ossomer's head with it, if he could. The fact that he still might have that chance only filled him with dread.

Should they have heeded Jetstone's warning?

He shouted defiantly, and heaved the axe over the heads of his men. It turned once and a half, and stuck deep in a sycamore tree with a thunderous crack of heavy metal.

I am 99.9% sure that if Wanda ordered Ansom to attack Stanley, he would comply. We saw in the current comic that he had to obey her even when he thought it was a bad idea for their side. Like Wanda said, he is HERS.

I am 95% sure that Wanda could find a way to give that order, despite all the rules regarding Loyalty, etc. Wanda is obviously conducting some serious moral juggling with her actions; she can pull it off.

If Wanda was in the Magic Kingdom when FAQ fell, wouldn't she be a Barbarian Caster? In which case she will be a mercenary working for GK not a GK unit. So if GK falls, she does not disband, she just needs to forage or pay for her own upkeep from her own purse.

If Wanda was in the Magic Kingdom when FAQ fell, wouldn't she be a Barbarian Caster? In which case she will be a mercenary working for GK not a GK unit. So if GK falls, she does not disband, she just needs to forage or pay for her own upkeep from her own purse.

She may have to break allegiance first, so as to have her own side, and take a city for her own support, at least, but I think it's doable right now for Wanda to leave Stanley. It's just a question of what's best for her, and for the moment those dwagons are pretty handy.

She absolutely needs to have another side to flee to before she can do anything crazy. If Stanley dies and she isn't in a city, then she auto-disbands (assuming no plot/pliers armour). Even if she is in a city, the city would freeze and then be overwhelmed by enemy forces.

Wand is "of the lost Croatan tribe," so like Vurp she might be the chief of her tribe by default. That's not as good as being a royal like Jillian, but would still give Wanda a "side" at any time she choose to break. Just thinking out loud here, but I think it's one possible direction the plot might take at some point.

I am 99.9% sure that if Wanda ordered Ansom to attack Stanley, he would comply. We saw in the current comic that he had to obey her even when he thought it was a bad idea for their side. Like Wanda said, he is HERS.

I am not so certain and I think Wanda isn't either. I don't think it was for love that she didn't want Ansom seeing her crook his dad and lover, she sees evidence of weakening loyalty.

She got burned in book 1 with Jillian loyalty spell breaking, partially because of love.

IMO she has something stronger than a suggestion spell on Ansom, but it is finite/breakable over time.

I am 99.9% sure that if Wanda ordered Ansom to attack Stanley, he would comply. We saw in the current comic that he had to obey her even when he thought it was a bad idea for their side. Like Wanda said, he is HERS.

There are probably good reasons why Wanda's order for Ansom to stay back is not a bad order. He is wounded after all, a bit emotional, so if you are gonna bring emotional leaders along it's best to bring just one, the fully healed one. Also, Wanda's probably hedging her bets and ordering Ansom to strengthen the rear of the army.

So maybe Ansom thought that this order was bad for him, rather than the side.

"However, it isn't clear if he disagrees with the plan itself. Parson has said that it is the best possible plan, given the circumstances."

Best possible plan given a *specific* question. They have initiative, time to plan and act till they end turn.

There are more ways to win a war than direct attack, eg diplomacy to split up the coalition.

Given complete control of GK, without Stanley to screw things up, it may be tempting to make deal with Hagar to let them take over Jetstone, focus on any enemies that are determined to wipe you out, and try to seem non threatening to the rest.

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